Maximum Ride: The Final Countdown
by IntercomNut
Summary: My flock was dead, Itex, the company that funds the School, obviously wasn’t finished. And it seemed like Angel might have turned on us, for real this time, and there was nothing I could do about it." Excerpt from Maximum Ride: The Final Countdown
1. Chapter 1

Maximum Ride: The Final Countdown

**This is my first fan fic ever, so go easy on me. Please, though, send me some reviews, tell me some stuff to change, or other stuff. If I send up a new chapter even though you gave the last one a bad review, just bare with me, maybe you'll like the next one better.**

* * *

Chapter 1 

My wings and back crashed into a window, shattering it and sending glass everywhere. Yes, I said wings. If you're wondering how I got them, I'll tell you quickly, so I can get back to the action. See, I was raised in a lab, called the School, where the whitecoats (extremely psychotic) mixed my DNA with Avian (bird, for those of you who don't know) DNA. So, I'm not quite human. I'm more of, a kid-bird mutant freak. I'm also stronger and tougher than most humans. You might find this surprising, but I'm also considerably lighter, because my bones are hollow. Oh, I forgot to tell you, I'm Maximum Ride, but most people call me Max. Anyway, here's the action again.

A flyboy, which is a robot about the size of a human with wolf skin stretched over, continued pushing me, using mechanical wings of its own, until we crashed into a wall. The sheetrock behind me shattered and I crashed into a wood stud. The impact sent splinters flying off of it. The flyboy made a fist and tried to crush my head with it. What a spaz. I quickly moved my head, good for me, making the fist smash through the stud and make a hole in the other side of the wall. Man, the new model is strong. Then it brought its knee up into my stomach, ouch, crushing the air out of my lungs and smashing me the rest of the way through the wall. I rolled over a desk, knocking glass trinkets along with a computer screen and keyboard off it, and crashed to the ground, again, ouch. The flyboy grabbed the desk and lifted it up over his head. I quickly rolled to the side as he smashed the desk onto the ground, where I'd been a second before. Splinters flew everywhere as the desk shattered. As the flyboy took a step toward me he slipped on one of the splinters and landed on his back. I jumped up and, seizing the opportunity, ran toward the nearest window.

Then I felt a sharp prick in my arm. I looked at it and saw a dart embedded in it. I stopped dead, realizing that I would be no match for the flyboy in the air, I was already feeling drowsy. Then, surprising the flyboy and hoping that the tranquillizer was slow acting; I sprinted over to the flyboy and jumped onto it. I locked my legs around its body, wrapped my hands around its head, and turned its head all the way around. There was a **snap**, and sparks poured from its neck. Then it felt like all of the feeling drained from my legs. I started stumbling toward the window. I ran into it, and then punched it. It shattered, and I fell out of the building, just realizing that I was in one of the tallest buildings in New York. I started pumping my wings, just as I started to lose feeling in them. I was only able to pump them hard enough to slow down my fall. About a hundred feet lower I crashed onto the top of another skyscraper. I felt some ribs break. Not the best idea I've ever had. I lay there, losing more feeling in my body. _You've got to hide, the flyboys are coming back._ Jeb? I thought. _I'm coming with your mother right now, just hide._ I decided to take Jeb's advice.

Oh, I forgot to mention, Jeb Batchelder, who saved my flock, I'll explain later, and I from the School, is my father. He and my mother, Dr. Valencia Martinez, just contributed their DNA to the project that made me. After that, Dr. Martinez was cut off from the project, and had another daughter, Ella Martinez. Then the rest of the flock, Fang, fourteen, same as me, quiet and calm, Iggy, also fourteen, accidentally made blind by the School, Nudge, ten, extremely talkative, able to feel what has happened to inanimate objects, usefull for getting computer passwords, Gazzy (short for Gasman), eight, immature, great voice imitator (literally, he's right on), ventriloquist, and, um, read the name again, and Angel, six and lives up to her name, when she's not reading my thoughts and using her mind control powers to manipulate the President of the United States.

I looked around the roof and saw a large duct leading down through the roof. I pulled myself over to it with my hands, the only limbs I could move, punched through the inlet cover, and crawled into the vent. I didn't see that it would drop me down ten feet, but it happened anyway. I crashed down onto the duct, hoping that no one heard me. Then I lost feeling in my whole body.

Then the memories of what happened only a few minutes earlier came flooding into my mind. Watching TV with Fang, Angel playing with Celeste and Total, our black talking dog who can jump about sixteen feet into the air, Nudge and Gazzy playing Nintendo DSs that Angel 'convinced' the clerk at Best Buy to give to them for free, Iggy reading a book written in Braille. Then the door exploding off its hinges and flyboys flooding into the room. Me yelling, "Run!" and seeing Iggy smash a window and jump out of it, with Gazzy out right behind him. Then seeing Nudge collapse to the ground, a dart sticking out of her neck, and Angel grabbing her head and screaming. "Angel, wha-" Then seeing Angel jumping onto Fang, knocking him over, and his head colliding with the edge of the coffee table. Then seeing blood slowly flow out of his head. Realizing I had to leave, and jumping through another window. Then, after flying about 100 feet, looking back, and seeing flyboys chase Iggy and Gazzy back into the apartment building. And hearing a loud **boom**, seeing fire shoot out of the windows, and feeling the shockwave hit me. Then I came back to reality.

My flock was dead, Itex, the company that funds the School, obviously wasn't finished. Jeb and Dr. Martinez were coming, and were probably going to get ambushed. And it seemed like Angel might have turned on us, for real this time, not that that really mattered at the time, and there was nothing I could do about it. With those thoughts running through my head, I sank into unconsciousness, hearing foot steps by the entrance to the vent.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Fang opened his eyes, and saw that he was in a cage yet again. He tried to lift his head, but an extreme pain exploded in his skull. He let his head rest on the ground again, and for the first time, he noticed a wrap around his head. He reached his hand around the back of his head and felt a damp section. He took his hand off, brought it in front of his face, and saw a little blood. Then he remembered Angel jumping on him, him falling, and then pain and blackness. Then he wondered why Angel would do that. Max wouldn't have told her to seriously hurt him, even if she was trying to be undercover, unlikely because she'd already been undercover once and had obviously helped them escape from the School. He turned his head and saw Nudge, in a cage next to him, just waking up.

"Oh no," she said as she looked around. "Not again, not again." Fang could tell that she was working hard to hold back tears. "I-I-I don't know if I can handle this again." She put her hand on a bar. She screamed.

"Nudge, calm down!" whispered Fang. Nudge stopped screaming, but started hyperventilating.

"A mutant," she panted. "He was scheduled to fight another mutant. He knew that the other mutant would not kill him quickly, so he, he, he banged his head against this pole until…"

"How could you figure this out from a pole?" asked Fang. "It doesn't have any memory."

"Well, the last time the creature hit, his, you know, hit it too," tearfully replied Nudge.

"Oh," said Fang, starting to feel queasy. Then he noticed something that he didn't before, something that scared him immensely. "Hey, where's Angel?"

Angel woke up in a cage too. But she was alone, there were no other cages around, it was just her. The hallway was completely bare, except for her cage, and two doors, one at each side of the hallway. It was made completely of steel, and there was not one window on the doors. Next to each door there was a key pad with a number pad and a letter pad. There was a scanner above the keypad that looked like the fingerprint scanners she'd seen on TV. Above that was what looked like a retina scanner. There were at least ten cameras in the hallway. Most of them were looking at her; the others were watching the doors and covering each other's blind spots.

Then she closed her eyes and reached out with her mind. She sensed no minds within two hundred feet of her. That was strange, usually there were plenty of whitecoats trying to do experiments on her. And when there weren't, there were usually at least ten nearby. Then she sensed two minds, and they were coming closer. She tried to get in and listen to their thoughts, but it was like there was some kind of force pushing her out. Then they stopped only twenty feet away. Then there was a hiss and one of the hallway doors opened. Two people walked in. One was a male whitecoat, the other was a blonde male, wearing a blue t-shirt and matching jeans. He looked about thirteen, and walked with a limp. The white coat took out a syringe.

"Okay, come over here," forcefully said the whitecoat. Angel moved to the opposite side of the cage. The whitecoat turned his head and nodded at the boy. Then he looked at Angel.

"Fall asleep," echoed a voice in her head. It was not her own, it hissed like a snake, though slightly lower. All of a sudden her eyelids drooped and her body felt heavy. "Fall asleep." The voice came again, echoing through her mind. She felt even more tired, and soon was on the ground. Then she suddenly realized something that meant big trouble for the flock. There was another person who could control minds. She tried to fight back, but he was to strong for her. Seven seconds later, Angel was fast asleep. The whitecoat opened the cage, walked over to Angel, and injected the anesthesia that was contained in the syringe, into her arm. Then he picked her up and carried her out of the room.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Gazzy and Iggy flew away from the burning apartment building as fast as they could. They flew past the Empire State Building and then landed on a short building right next to it. Both of them were panting. They'd just barely escaped, again, before the building exploded.

"We've got to go back for the rest of the flock," panted the Gasman as he tried to unfurl his wings.

"No," whispered Iggy as he somehow sensed where the Gasman was and put his hand on Gazzy's shoulder. "We've got to take care of ourselves first. And we won't be very much use to the rest of the flock like this."

"You're right," Gazzy agreed, grudgingly. "Did you blow the apartment?"

"No way!" exclaimed Iggy. "That was those flyboys!"

"Speak of the devil," said Gazzy as he jumped into Iggy, pushing them both out of the way of a pack of flyboys. Two of the seven of them crashed head first into the roof and continued through it. The other five pulled up and flew about a foot over Gazzy and Iggy. As they circled around, Iggy and Gazzy took off straight up. The flyboys flew straight towards them. Then Iggy and Gazzy did a ninety degree turn and flew right over the flyboys in the opposite direction. Gazzy grabbed one of them and did a 180. He started flying towards a building. He and the flyboy flew at full speed, holding onto each other, trying to make the other hit first. Then Gazzy did a turn and let go. The flyboy wasn't holding on tight enough, so his fingers slipped of Gazzy and he flew through a window, two walls, and crashed through a window on the other side of the building. Iggy punched a flyboy in one of its eyes, shattering it, then grabbed it and went into a dive. He about twenty feet from the ground he let go of the flyboy and backpedaled. The flyboy wings still weren't good at that maneuver, so it crashed into an electrical box. The box exploded and sent sparks fifty feet into the air, barely missing Iggy. He looked up and heard Gazzy fighting the three remaining flyboys. As he was fighting one, another flew up behind him, made two fists, and brought them down hard in-between Gazzy's wings. His wings went limb and he fell twenty feet onto the top of the building.

"No!" yelled Iggy as he heard the crunch of the two impacts. Then he grabbed an Iggy-made-grenade, which he'd been hiding from Max for the two weeks since the battle at Itex,, and threw it at a flyboy, hearing the whoosh of the wings. It collided with a flyboy's head and exploded. The explosion sent fragments of metal that severed one other flyboy's arm and another's wing. The headless and wingless flyboys crashed down onto the roof while the other flyboy flew, full speed, at Iggy. The flyboy collided with Iggy and rammed him into a brick wall. Iggy hit the flyboy in the face, but it had no effect. Then the flyboy brought its fist back and a sharp blade slid out of a slot on top of it.

Then Iggy heard a flyboy voice say, "Leave him. Get back to base. Go. Go. Go." The flyboy released Iggy and flew away. Iggy fell ten feet into a dumpster. Gazzy flew down and helped Iggy out of the dumpster.

"Good flyboy imitation," said Iggy as he brushed garbage off of him.

"Ah, it was okay," said the Gasman with a lot of fake modesty. Then they heard a window shatter. They crouched and listened harder. A minute later they heard a second window shatter a little ways away. Then Gassy saw and Iggy heard a winged figure fall out the shattered window and fall onto another skyscraper. "Oh no, not another one!"

"No," said Iggy. "Those were real wings." They both took off, Gazzy guiding Iggy by holding his hand. They landed on the skyscraper and looked around, well, Gazzy anyway. Then he saw a punctured ventilator cover. He walked over and stuck his head into it. He stopped breathing for a second. "What is it?" asked Iggy, wearing an extremely annoyed face.

"It's Max!" yelled Gasman. Instantly, a smile replaced the annoyance on Iggy's face. "Wait, I don't think she's awake." He reached down and put his hands on either side of Max's chest. "A little help here." Iggy kneeled beside him and grabbed Max's legs. They lifted her up out of the vent. "This isn't good." Gasman said as he looked over her, seeing all of the cuts from her recent battle.

"Well there's something worse coming," said Iggy as he heard helicopter rotors. A few seconds later, a helicopter appeared right in front of them.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Fang sat in his cage, his heart pounding, his breathing coming in pants. Where was Angel? Did this have something to do with what she did back at the apartment? He'd never felt so responsible for the flock before. And not knowing where Angel was destroyed his sense of calm. Nudge was asleep in the cage next to him, and Total was asleep in the cage on his other side. This feeling of responsibility was new to him, and he didn't know what to do about it, especially since he couldn't do anything to help the two with him, Gazzy, Iggy, and Max, or Angel, being in a cage and all.

Then there were footsteps. Fang crouched down in his cage, waiting for something bad to happen. Then a whitecoat came into view. "Few, only one," thought Fang. Then he saw that the whitecoat was wearing a gasmask on her face. He looked down at her hand and saw it clutching a tank with a tube and nozzle on the end of it. As Fang moved to the very back of the cage, the whitecoat opened the nozzle and let the gas escape it. For a few seconds, Fang thought the gas wasn't going to affect him, then he lost all the feeling in his legs and collapsed onto the ground. Then he lost all the feeling in the rest of his body. His vision turned into a steadily thinning tunnel. Then the tunnel closed up.

Fang woke up in the middle of a room about the size of a normal living room. He looked around and saw Nudge lying next to him, with Total next to her. He looked in front of him and saw Angel standing next to a probably thirteen year old boy with blonde hair and wearing a blue t-shirt and blue jeans. He was grinning at Fang.

Angel was staring at Fang, dreading what the boy next to her was going to make her do. "Do it," echoed his voice in her head. No, I would rather go back into the cage. "If you don't do it, something worse will happen." He sent her a bad image, and she reluctantly complied.

"Kick Nudge," echoed Angel's voice in Fang's head. What? "Kick her." No I would never do that. But despite his mental protest, he brought his bare foot back and sent it hard into Nudge's back.

"Ow!" exclaimed Nudge as she woke up. The she turned her head toward Fang just in time to see his fist slam into her face. "Fang!" Then Angel's voice echoed through her head, "Punch him in the stomach." Then Nudge, without trying or wanting to, made a fist and sent it hard into Fang's stomach. All of the air was expelled from his lungs and he doubled over, feeling sick. "Again." Then she punched him again and he collapsed onto his back. "Now, don't try to stop him as he tries to kick you in the face. Don't move at all." She was stuck in a standing position, not able to move. Then Fang, with an apologetic look on his face, sent his heal crashing into Nudge's face. She crashed down onto the floor, and everything went black.

"Good," said the mystery kid for the first time. "Experiment finished."

Then Fang heard his voice tell him to knock himself unconscious. He grabbed the wall and brought his head forward with all his strength, knocking himself unconscious instantly.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Gazzy and Iggy stared at the helicopter as it turned ninety degrees, revealing a turret machine gun. There were five flyboys in the back and two piloting the helicopter.

"Come into the helicopter peacefully, or we will be forced to use brutal measures," said one of the flyboys, gesturing toward the machine gun. Iggy looked toward Gazzy, and nodded. They walked forward and started to board the helicopter. Gazzy only just saw Iggy tap the machine gun with his index finder. They set Max down on the floor. Then Gazzy grabbed one of the handles on the machine gun and pushed the handle as hard as he could, sending the gun spinning into a flyboy. He then grabbed the trigger and pulled it, sending bullets at the flyboys. Three of them fell out of the other door, riddled with holes. Then one of the flyboy's fists collided with his face, sending him spinning out of the helicopter just as it took off. As he fell, he grabbed the metal step on the side of the helicopter. As the helicopter moved forward he swung precariously.

Then Iggy kicked the flyboy out of the helicopter. As he turned around to face the last flyboy, the flyboy kicked him in the chest. As he fell out of the helicopter, Iggy grabbed onto a machine handle, pulling the trigger. As he swung he sent machine gun bullets into the helicopter cockpit, destroying any means of controlling the helicopter. The gun swung again and shredded the last flyboy's torso.

My eyes flickered open, and I saw that I was in a helicopter. I looked around and saw Iggy hanging onto a turret machine gun, which was spewing bullets. I rolled over and crawled out of the path of the gun. Then I stood up and walked over to Iggy. I grabbed onto a handle with one hand, and tapped Iggy's hand with my other hand. He immediately grabbed it and I pulled him into the helicopter. Then I looked down and saw Gazzy barely holding onto the step.

"Hold onto this!" I yelled to Iggy as I guided his hand onto the handle. He wrapped his fingers around it as I grabbed his hand. Then I reached my hand down toward Gazzy, leaning down and putting my weight on Iggy's arm. Gazzy reached up and locked his fingers around my hand. Then I yelled, "Iggy! Hold on tighter!" He did so and I pulled Gazzy up into the helicopter. Then I heard the hum of the rotors die and felt the floor start to fall out from under me. I poked my head out of the door and saw the ground approaching extremely fast. Then the door slammed shut.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Tears poured out of Angel's eyes and ran down her face, landing on her knees and soaking into her blue jeans. She sat with her knees pushed against her chest crying. She could not believe what she had done. She'd tortured her friends, the ones that had saved her when she'd been kidnapped, the ones who comforted her when she was scared, the ones that had been with her all her life.

But she knew that she had no other choice. The other option involved torture that she wouldn't have been able to imagine, except for the fact that the evil kid who made her do it sent her a memory of watching it done. Half of the flock wouldn't exist if she'd refused to comply with the kid's demand. She couldn't believe, though, that a thirteen year old would make her do this. She didn't think that a kid that young would be able to make someone do that. But she didn't know his motives, because he seemed to be much more experienced with his mental abilities, making him better at blocking her out of his mind. She couldn't block him out, though. She'd learned of her mind controlling ability and her talking to fish and breathing underwater abilities on accident, through experience. It seemed that he was trained to use his powers. He was definitely more powerful than she was. He could use his mind-blocking abilities on other people, not just himself.

"What will happen to the flock if we escape? He'll be able to predict what we're going to do," she thought.

"Yes I will," echoed his voice in her head.

Fang's eyes flickered open. The first thing he felt was pain. Pain in his head, stomach, and back. He didn't move; he'd experienced the pain to move after a fight too many times. But he had to see if Nudge was alright. He turned his head, sending knives of pain through his head, and looked at Nudge. Both of her eyes were swollen and there were bruises all over the rest of her face. He felt guilt flood him. "I couldn't stop it, it wasn't my choice. Angel was using mind control on me," he thought. Then he felt his stomach get stirred up with that feeling of responsibility again. He'd let Angel be turned into a monster. Then he felt curiosity join his other emotions. Who was that kid? Why was he there? Why didn't he say anything?

As he was pondering all of those thoughts, trying to ignore the pain, but not succeeding, he heard Total pipe up for the first time since they got there, "Are you okay?"

Fang didn't turn his head as he replied, "Just fine. I only got punched twice by Nudge and then banged my head on the wall so hard that it knocked me unconscious. But during that time I kicked Nudge in the back and face, and punched her in the face."

"What!? Why did you do that?" exclaimed Total.

"Why don't you ask Angel?" said Fang.

"WHAT!" yelled Total. "How could you say something like that about Angel?"

"Settle down!" yelled Fang. "I'm only telling you what happened!"

"Quiet down!" moaned Nudge. "You're making my headache worse."

"Sorry," said Fang, glad that she was awake. She turned her head toward him and he saw a lot of pain in her eyes, both physical and emotional. "It's okay, Nudge." Then she broke down crying. He wished that he could've put his arm around her shoulders, but he couldn't. He felt bad for her, she'd been through a lot already, and she was only twelve. He couldn't believe that the Director of Itex could be so cruel. Then a disturbing thought ran through his head.

What if they made Angel do that for a reason other than to torture the flock? What if they planned on using her ability sometime later? What if they used it in another plan to destroy the world?


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

I stared at the helicopter door for a second, realizing that, if I hadn't pulled my head back, I could've lost my head, get the joke. Then I remembered that our helicopter was about to crash onto the streets of NYC.

"Open the door!" I yelled to Iggy and Gazzy. They both ran toward the door and started pulling on it, with no success. I looked around the helicopter, trying to find something to help. Then I saw a button marked 'Open/Close' next to the door. I sprinted over to the button and slammed my hand down onto it. The door slid open and I pushed Iggy and Gazzy out. Then I jumped, unfurled my wings, and flew as quickly as I could away from the falling helicopter. I looked back and saw that Gazzy and Iggy were on my tail, and I continued flying. Then there was a loud **boom **and the sound of shattering glass and roaring flames filled the air. I winced. Then I noticed a cloud moving towards us. My bird eyes saw the black cloud in the night as if there was a flashlight behind it. I could also see that the different parts of the cloud had wings. "Flyboys!" I turned my head and saw that the cloud of flyboys was surrounding us. My mind was racing. I began to feel like I was running through a shrinking tunnel that never ended. Then, as the flyboys were only two hundred feet away, I yelled, "Follow me!" and went into a dive. I looked back and saw Iggy and Gazzy behind me. Then I looked forward and saw that I was about to crash into the ground. I turned quickly so that I was parallel to the ground, almost crashing into it at a hundred miles per hour. Then I pushed my chin into my chest and put my hands on top of my head as I crashed through a window. I flew through a lobby, weaved around a metal wall in the middle of it, and crashed through another window.

As Iggy and Gazzy weaved around the wall, Gazzy asked, "Max, what are you doing?" Then I heard crashes and explosions as flyboys crashed into the wall and exploded. Then I slid to a stop and ended up next to a manhole. I grabbed the manhole and pulled it up, revealing the river of sewage beneath.

"Get down, now!" I yelled. Iggy felt the space and jumped into the water. Gazzy jumped through next, and I followed them through. There was a loud **splash** as I crashed into the water. I was underwater for a second. I came up spluttering. Then I gagged as the sewer smell reached my nose. I grabbed the walkway that ran along the pipe and pulled myself out of the water. My hair stuck to my soaked leather jacked and water dripped onto the floor. I saw Iggy and Gazzy pulling their soaked selves out of the water. I ran over to them, crouched down, and asked, "Everyone okay?"

Iggy spit out some water and replied, "I'm good."

"I'm good to go," said Gazzy. He shook his head, spraying water everywhere.

"Gazzy!" I yelled, putting my hands in front of my face to protect it. Then I noticed something in the wall. It looked like a rectangle was carved into it. "Wait a second." Then I heard a clang as another manhole cover hit the bottom of the pipe. "Uh-oh." I didn't want to, but it was my only option. I pushed the rectangle and it opened inwards. I grabbed Iggy and Gazzy and dragged them inside. Then I pushed the door closed.

"Where are-?" Gazzy started to say, but then realization crept onto his face.

"What?" asked Iggy.

"We're in the Institute," I said.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Herman Batchelder sat at a metal desk, in front of five computer screens. The walls around him were silver, with nothing covering them. He wore a suit that matched the walls, in color as well as emptiness. That's what his life had been like for twenty years. Twenty years in a padded room, kept away from his lab, but not his ideas. He'd co-made bird-kid mutants but, unlike his friend, ter Borcht, he'd been caught doing it. But he'd been let out early, with the help of money, and now he was back. But he, like ter Borcht, whom he'd gotten rid of, found that his mutants were failures. But that was only when he read their files. Later, when he found his treasure, it all changed. He destroyed what was left of Itex, the thing that imprisoned him, including ter Borcht and its staff, except one. **Buzz**! There was his treasure.

He pressed a button next to a microphone and said, "Come in." The thirteen year old wearing a black shirt and jeans, named Invader by Herman, pushed open a door and walked into the room. "Experiment?"

"Successful," replied Invader.

"How is Angel reacting to it?"

"Fine, it has left serious emotional scars, but she will be fine."

"There is just one stage left in the experiment."

"Yes?"

"We've located the Director."

"And?"

"We want her taken out."

"And what does this have to do with the experiment."

"Well, we want to see if mind control can cross moral boundaries."

"You want Angel to kill her."

"Yes."

"Okay."

"You may leave now." Invader stood and walked toward the door, which opened automatically to allow him out. Another man walked past him into the room. He was about six feet tall with brown, but graying hair. His head was completely shaved, revealing dark brown, almost black skin. He wore a black leather coat with matching pants.

"What would you like?" he asked in a voice barely louder than a whisper.

"We have located Jeb Batchelder. He is being held in a secure government facility in Roswell, New Mexico."

"Understood," said the man, and left. Herman sat back in his padded black chair. Everything was going according to plan. His plan to take over the world was going perfectly according to plan, he was destroying the last of his enemies, and he was developing his second weapon that would make the plan a success.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Angel woke up to the sound of roaring and the feel of vibrating. She opened her eyes and saw that she was in a small room. She saw that she was lying on a bed and that the bed, other than a toilet and a sink, was the only thing in the room. She stood up and walked around, searching for a door. She found one. It had no handle and it was almost invisible, except for its outline. Then she felt pressure on her ears and recognized it from when she descended from a high altitude. She felt the room tilt. Then the room jerked in time with a **thud**. Then the room tilted the other way and there was another small **thud**. Then she noticed, for the first time, that the room was moving forward. She felt it slow down until it was barely moving and turn. Then it stopped. After a few seconds one panel on each wall receded into it and slid sideways out of site. Then she heard a hiss and saw green mist float out of the holes. She took in a big breath and held it as the mist slowly filled the room. Three minutes later, though, she couldn't resist her survival instinct any longer. She let out the breath and took in another one. A few seconds later her vision blurred and then disappeared. She distantly felt herself collapse onto her knees and her face and chest collide with the floor. Then reality slipped away from her.

Angel woke up again in a truck, driving through a city street with no street lights during the night. She tried to sit up, but her wrists and ankles were bound to the floor. She saw an empty row of three seats in front of her. She reached out with her mind and felt only one presence. It was Invader. She let her body go limp, for she knew that even if she escaped the things binding her physically, he would stop her mentally. Then the truck stopped and she heard a door open and close. Then a dark shape appeared behind the window and opened it up. The truck lights cast eerie shadows across his slightly shrunken face, a face that looked like it had suffered. He pulled out a knife. Then he sliced the ropes binding her to the floor.

"Come with me," he said. Then he turned around and started walking, knowing that she wouldn't try to escape. Angel stood up, rubbed her wrists, and started after him. After ten minutes of walking, he turned off the street. They walked through a line of trees and saw a house, that looked like it was about to fall down, and was surrounded by a fence with huge chunks missing. They continued walking past a gate, hanging onto the fence with one hinge, and stopped when they were ten feet from the house. Then Invader pulled a pistol out of his pocket and gave it to Angel. She wrapped her fingers around the handle. Then she heard his voice in her head and felt herself walking forward against her will. She pushed the door open and looked into the entrance hall of the room. A light flashed on and revealed a woman lying on the floor.

The woman opened her eyes and sat up. Angel immediately recognized her as the Director. Her hair was tangled and uneven. Cuts ran across her face and up her arms.

"Kill her," echoed Invader's voice. Her hand rose and pointed the gun at the Director's head.

"No," whimpered the Director. "No."

"Kill her."

Angel's hand started to shake.

"Kill her!"

**BANG!**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

I stared at the small room, memories starting to come back to me. The computer that Nudge had gotten information about them from was still there, cages were still lying around, along with other familiar things. The difference was that there was nothing, except Gazzy, Iggy and I, alive there. Rotting skeletons were in the cages. The computer hard drive was smashed, and wires were hanging down from the ceiling.

"Nice decoration," I said.

"What happened?" asked Gazzy, fear creeping into his voice.

"I don't know," I replied. I spotted the cage that we'd found Total in. It had a small body in it, not very old.

"What's going on?" asked Iggy.

"The Institution's been trashed," I mumbled, knowing he could hear a car a thousand feet away.

"Give me the picture," he said.

"Wires hanging from the ceiling, skeletons in the cages, dead computer…" replied Gazzy. Then some of the wires moved, wrapping themselves around Gazzy's and Iggy's legs, arms, torsos, and necks. Then the wires pulled those two up through the ceiling and out of sight. At the same time, wires shot out from the walls, wrapped around my left arm and quickly pulled me into the wall. My head cracked against the wall. Then the wires unwrapped and let me fall to the ground. Stars flashed across my vision and pain spread all the way up the left side of my body. Most of the pain filled my head. I laid there for a full minute and then stood up.

"Gazzy, Iggy!" I yelled, and then shut up immediately, since it caused more pain to shoot through my brain. Then the dead computer screen flashed to life, which had been the only thing not damaged. A face appeared on it, and I recognized it from somewhere, but I couldn't place it.

"Hello, Max," he said, smiling.

I responded with silence, his voice, sounding over the speakers all around the room, making my headache worse.

"I just want to tell you a few things before you are killed. We are going to destroy this planet and this time it will be destroyed, completely. We need the rest of your flock to make that happen, except for Fang. Both of you are too headstrong."

"So," I spat. "Is it as stupid as the last one, because that one was stopped by a bunch of kids and some freaks from the local area."

"No," he replied, undeterred. "That plan was cracked up by the Director. She's incompetent, and dead."

"Wha?" I asked. I'd hated the Director, but I've hardly ever wanted anyone dead, and she wasn't someone I really wanted dead.

"Angel and Invader will use their mind-control powers on your 'flock' and use them to take out candidates running for the president of the United States. We've determined that both you and Fang, even with mind-control, would not kill. But the others will be a little more susceptible. And that's all I'm going to say. Goodbye, Maximum Ride." Then I recognized him or, at least, I recognized a relative.

"Are you related to Jeb?" I asked.

"Yes, I'm his brother. He is going to be dead very soon too. An assassin has already been sent to kill him. And now, it's time for you to share in their fates." Herman Batchelder's face disappeared and the number ten appeared in its place. Then the countdown commenced. Ten seconds later, an explosion formed. Twenty feet above the institution, a fireball blew a New York street apart. Flaming cars flew into the air, some crashing through windows fifty stories high. Fire shot through sewer pipes and out of toilets, sinks, and other things connected to the sewer system.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Fang sat in his cage, a tray of food in front of him. That was the first bit of food they'd given him ever since they'd been captured. He wasn't about to eat it. He wasn't stupid enough to eat food that'd probably been loaded with a tranquilizer or poison. Then there was a hiss as a door at the end of the hall slid open. Metallic footsteps echoed down the hall as four flyboys walked down it. They stopped in front of his door and opened it.

"Come with us," one said in an emotionless voice. Then two of them grabbed his arms and they all walked out of the room. Fang looked back and saw Nudge and Total sleeping. He wondered if he would ever see them again.

They walked down another hallway to a door marked "Gas Chamber". The flyboy held up its hand and the door opened. The two holding him threw him into the room. He crashed into a wall and then onto the floor. The door slammed shut. He looked around. The room was completely made of metal except for a small glass window. He walked over to it and saw that it had an exclamation mark painted onto it, with the word "Danger" below it. Behind the glass there was a small plastic tube. He figured that was poison gas that was going to be used to kill him. He also saw small wires running through it.

"That must be a sensor," he thought out loud. Then he tried to think back to tests the whitecoats had performed on him, tests that involved holding underwater and seeing how long he could hold his breath. He remembered that when he was seven he'd been able to hold his breath for five minutes. Then he took a deep breath, held it, made a fist, and punched the glass. It shattered and immediately an alarm went off. He grabbed the tube and ripped it out of the wall. Then he jumped to the side as the door opened. He turned and saw four flyboys run through the doorway. Then his skin and eyes started to burn. He also saw sparks fly out of the flyboy's ears, eyes, and mouths. He ran and crashed into two of the flyboys, sending all three of them flying out of the room.

"Ahh!" he yelled as the burning sensation became worse. He looked down at his hands and saw that the skin on top of them was disintegrating, and a small flow of blood was starting to drip down them. He ran down the hall and took a left, trying to get to the cells and away from the acid gas. As he turned a corner he saw a whitecoat walking down the hall. As the whitecoat started to turn his head, Fang turned his shoulder toward him and ran into the whitecoat as hard as he could. They flew through the air until the whitecoat hit a wall. They both collapsed to the ground. Fang stood up and looked at the whitecoat. A trickle of blood was flowing down the side of his head and a card was lying on the ground next to his hand. Fang grabbed the card and saw the door to their cell block. He ran over to it and slid the card through a card reader next to the door. It buzzed and swung open.

"Fang?" asked Nudge as he sprinted over to her cell.

"It's alright," said Fang as he opened the door. Then he ran over to Total's cage and unlocked it.

"Hey," he said. "What's up?"

"We gotta get out of here," replied Fang.

"What happened to your hand?" asked Nudge.

"Don't worry about it," panted Fang. Just then a door opened and a whitecoat with two flyboys stepped in. Right away, Nudge grabbed the access card that Fang was holding and threw it like a Frisbee. It spun through the air and stabbed into the whitecoat's eye. He screamed and stumbled into a flyboy. Total jumped through the air and collided with a flyboy. He stabbed his teeth into the flyboy's eye and ripped it out. Sparks flew out of the eye's socket and the flyboy collapsed to the ground. Fang grabbed a tray of food and threw it at the other flyboy. The tray fell but the food stuck to his eyes, blinding him. He ran forward, spun the flyboy around, and kicked the flyboy in the back, cracking its spine.

"Let's get out of here!" yelled Fang. They sprinted out of the room and down three hallways. He slid his wings out of slits in his coat and flexed the so that they were as far behind his back as he could get them. Nudge grabbed Total and followed suit. The next hallway was so skinny that they had to run in a single file line. They turned a corner and a flyboy was in front of them. He pointed his gun directly at Nudge. Total jumped into the air, attracting the flyboy's attention. The gun moved and fired. Total was flung into the ceiling and then crashed to the ground.

"No!" yelled Nudge as she continued to run. The flyboy pointed his gun at her again, but Total had given her just enough time. She jumped into the air, twisting her body, and delivered a very hard kick into the side of the gun. It was broken off the flyboy and spun into the wall. Then the side of Nudge's body collided full force into the flyboy. They crashed onto the ground and slid across the floor. She got up on her hands and knees and started punching it in the face. "No! No! No!" Then a firm hand grabbed her and pulled her off of it. She looked up and saw that it was Fang. He was also holding Total's broken body.

"Keep going," he said. "Or he will have died in vain." A tear sliding down her face, she jumped out of his grip and kept running. They battled their way through an outer door and took off into the air. Nudge looked over at Fang. He was looking straight ahead, his face emotionless as usual.

But she could have sworn that she saw a tear slide down his cheek.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Angel felt something hit her hard in the chest. She looked ahead and saw that the Director was holding a gun, and it was pointing right at Angel. She looked down and saw a red stain spreading across her shirt. She fell to her knees, and then onto her side. Her eyes slid closed.

"No!" yelled Invader. He looked at the Director. He jumped to the side as she fired another bullet. It missed him by inches. Then he thought, "You're gonna wish you'd never been born," and made sure that the Director heard it. Then he thought, "Drop your weapon." Shaking, her fingers unwrapped from the handle and trigger of the weapon. It hit the floor with a **clang**. He thought again, "Kick it over here." As she did that he reached over and grabbed the weapon that Angel was still holding. "Now, knock yourself out." She slammed her head against a piece of rubble, and then went limp. Invader checked to make sure that no thoughts were going through her head and then sprinted over to Angel.

He put her hands on the hole, where the bullet had entered her body, and put on pressure.

"Please work," he pleaded. Then he felt the skin start to move and grow. He felt the hole get smaller and smaller until it was gone. He took his hands off and saw that there wasn't a scratch left. He put his hand on her again and hoped that the hormone called erythropoietin, a hormone that tells the bone marrow to make red blood cells, was increasing in amount.

After a few minutes, he picked her up and ran out of the building. He stopped at the car. He opened the passenger door in it and placed her carefully into it, fastening her seatbelt. Then he ran to the front of the car and opened the hood. He instantly saw something that would not normally be there. It was a GPS tracker. He wrapped his fingers around it and ripped it out. Sparks sprayed out for a few seconds, but then stopped.

"That takes care of you," he mumbled as he walked to the driver door and opened it. He grabbed his cell phone and a gun. He threw the phone onto the ground as hard as he could and then shot it five times with the gun. He stepped into the car and spotted a camera on the windshield. He ripped it off and repeated the process that he'd done with the cell phone. The he closed the door, fastened his seatbelt, and drove off.

After an hour of driving they came to a small gated neighborhood. A tough looking guard stood in the guardhouse, which was cement with bullet proof glass windows. Invader stopped next to the guardhouse. The guard pressed a button and growled, "Who are you supposed to be going to."

"Mr. Batchelder is expecting me," Invader replied. The guard picked up a phone and dialed a number. After thirty seconds of talking and listening, the guard set down the phone and pressed a button. The solid steel gate, that looked more like a door, slid into the cement wall and Invader drove through. As soon as his bumper was out of the way, the gate slid closed in three seconds, just long enough for something small, dressed in black, to sneak through.

A few minutes later Invader drove up a driveway. He stopped in front of a garage, grabbed Angel, and carried her to the front door of the house. He rung the doorbell. A few seconds later, after a three cameras hummed to life, the door opened.

"Hello," said Ike Batchelder as he opened the door, concern creeping into his voice. He was wearing a white lab coat and a pair of glasses. His face was slightly wrinked, and his mouth was wearing a cross between a smile and a frown.

"Angel's been hurt," said Invader as he entered the house. There wasn't much homey about it. It looked like a medidcal practice. There were trays with medical tools, surgery tables, examination tables, microscopes, centrifuges, microscopes, and a machine that looked like a cross between an x-ray machine and an MRI machine. "She was shot near the heart," panted Invader as he ran her over to the machine. "I was able to heal some of the damage, but I'm not sure how much." He placed her onto a table. Ike pressed a button on the machine and the table slid into it. After ten minutes, the table slid back out and pictures rendered on a computer screen.

"Well, it seems that most of the damage was healed," said Ike as he inspected the 3D image. "There is still a little bit of damage in the heart, but I can fix that. There doesn't seem to be a shortage of blood, but I'll give her a small transfusion. Overall, your sister seems fine."


	13. Chapter 13

**Sorry I haven't written for a while. I just didn't feel like it and was letting thoughts float around in my head. Anyway, here's Chapter 13!**

Chapter 13

I woke up to the roaring of fire and the screaming of people. I opened my eyes, and saw that I was lying on a street. In front of me was chaos. People were laying on the ground, kneeling next to others, sprinting in every direction, and screaming. Flaming cars littered the street, along with broken glass and bodies. I looked upwards and saw fire shooting out of the shattered windows of two skyscrapers. As I got up, pain shot through my head and limbs. The screech of police sirens filled the air, making my headache even worse. I turned around as a police cruiser screeched to a stop. Two officers jumped out of the car and immediately pulled out pistols and pointed them at me. This is why I refuse to pay taxes, aside from the fact that I don't have money, but anyway…

"PUT YOUR HANDS UP!" one of them yelled, not able to hide the fear from his voice.

"What the heck," I yelled back as I put my hands up. "I didn't do any-" I stopped talking when I felt my foot touch something hard. I looked down and saw a rocket launcher laid down at my side. "Now listen officers, I didn't do anything," I protested as they slowly made their way toward me. I tried to remember what had happened in-between when the destruct sequence started and when I woke up, but I couldn't. "Please, don't do this," I pleaded. I made up my mind when the first policeman was three inches from me.

"Sorry," I said as I grabbed his arm and flung him into the second officer. Then I jumped into the air and spread my wings, beating them as hard as I could. Windows behind me shattered as bangs echoed in the air. More people screamed. Hooray for the NYPD. Then the sound of an automatic rifle filled the air. I shot upwards as more windows shattered. Then more gunfire came, making me realize that I _**really**_had to get out of there. I pumped my wings as hard as I could, until I reached 200 miles per hour.The lights of New York shot off into the distance.

I swore as loudly as I could, for three reasons. 1) I didn't know where Iggy, Gazzy, Fang, Nudge, and Angel where or how they were doing. 2) Jeb was going to be wasted by an assassin soon. And 3) _**I WAS THEN PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER 1**_!!!! Then the chopping of rotors interrupted my relaxation session. I looked back and saw what I assumed was a military chopper behind me. I dived just in time to avoid a stream of bullets from twin gatling guns. I literally felt the heat of the bullets as they rushed over me. I shot downwars, reaching my terminal velocity of around 100 miles-per-hour.

As I was about to collide with the trees of a forest I leveled out very quickly, shooting into the branches. Then I heard hissing and dodged to the side as a heat-seeking missile crashed into a tree, exploding and sending flaming woodchips everywhere. One shot across my face, cutting deeply into it. I yelped as I avoided another tree.

Then I heard the gatling guns shoot again, but no bullets shot my way. I looked up and saw two flying people or, more accurately, one flying person and another plummeting one. I shot out through the canopy, performing a half loop and shooting back the way I came. The falling body had wings, but the color, I couldn't tell in the darkness. I caught it lightly. I also realized horrifyingly that it was Fang, a large bullet hole was present in his shoulder. Beginning to notice a pattern in these books.

"FANG!" I yelled, but he made no response.

"WATCH OUT!" came Nudge's voice. I looked up and saw the helicopter, with fire shooting out of its windows, falling from directly above me.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Angel opened her eyes. She was lying on a soft, comfy bed. Her eyes swiveled back and forth, taking in the medical equipment, white walls, and Invader staring at her. She was so surprised that she rolled off the bed, not realizing that she wasn't bound to it. She was expecting a mind attack any time. But it never came, despite the fact that she put so much effort into closing her mind.

"I'm not going to hurt you," said Invader, sitting perfectly still in his chair.

"Yeah right!" snapped Angel.

"Really," replied Invader, perfectly passive, "I'm not going to hurt you."

"It's okay Angel," came a voice from behind her. She spun around, ready to fight, ready to stare into the face of evil. Instead, she stared into the face of Ike Batchelder.

"Oh my god," gasped Angel. "They told me you were dead."

"You mean the scientists at the School?" asked Ike.

"Yes."

"They tried to kill me, but they only thought I was dead."

"Wait a second," Angel whispered, her voice becoming hostile. "What's _he_ doing here." She pointed at Invader.

"Whatever he did," warned Ike, "try to forgive him. He's changed."

"Yeah right," snarled Angel. "He made Fang and Nudge beat each other up. He almost got me killed trying to make me kill the Director."

"But he saved you," pleaded Ike. "And he's your brother."

"What!" Angel tried to say more, but she could barely breathe. The world swam before her, and she felt faint. But she mustered the strength to talk as well as stop herself from falling flat on her face, "What are you talking about?"

"I told you, he's your brother."

"How can someone that evil be my brother?"

"Whether you want believe it or not, he is your brother. I can do a DNA test to prove it."

"Even if he is my biological brother, he's not a real brother. That position is reserved for Gazzy!"

As Ike was about to respond, there was a loud **CRASH** from the entryway. Invader jumped up from his chair and sprinted toward the entryway. Then a black blur sped into Invader, throwing him through a window. The blur changed directions, speeding directly towards Angel. At the last second, she sidestepped the blur and sent a hard kick into its back. It fell and rolled into a table. Angel saw a shaved brown head and short, stubby fingers.

"I wasn't expecting a little kid to stand in my way to Ike," the man seemed to whisper, even though he was speaking at a normal volume. "Too bad, now I'm going to be late to Ike's brother's assassination." That made Angel hesitate for a half of a second, just enough time for the man. He sprung into the air like a cat. As Angel raised her arms up in defence, she saw claws slide out from between the man's fingers, the claws curved like a cat's. As Angel jumped to the side, she felt claws cut into her back.

"Ah," she yelled. Then she heard a sharp exhaling of breath. She turned around and saw the "Cat Man" holding Ike, four claws protruding from his back. Then the Cat Man pushed Ike's body off of his claws, turned his head towards Angel, and then sprang towards her.


	15. Chapter 15

**Sorry again for not writing. I hope I haven't lost all of my very few fans. I'll try to write a lot now that it's the summer.**

Chapter 15

Angel heard the claws slice through the skin and break the bones, and then she felt something big slam into her; she was thrown into the wall. But, aside from her aching back, she felt no pain. She looked down at her chest, and saw that there was no damage. She looked forward a little, and saw Invader lying on the ground. There were eight holes in his chest, each one bleeding profusely. The "Cat Man" screamed in pain, as Invader placed his hands on his head.

"They're going to kill presidential candidates off," gasped Invader, "until their man is the only one left. They were going to use you and me to do it, but they can't anymore. Now, run!"

"Thank you brother!" cried Angel as she turned and jumped through a window. She was about to take off when a helicopter appeared. She ran onto the street, hoping that the helicopter hadn't seen her. Then she heard the helicopter rotors getting closer.

"Crap!" she yelled as she weaved off the road. Immediately, she heard a Gatling gun fire. Soon, a cloud of dirt was following her through a lawn. She dove into garden full of bushes and snuck under a deck, where the helicopter couldn't see her. She snuck around the front of the house. She looked behind her to ensure she wasn't being followed, and then turned back around. Immediately, she felt a hard metal object slam into the side of her head. She fell onto the grass, semi-conscious. Through her blurred vision, she could see a commando bending down.

"She's out," he reported.

"Good," replied another voice. "Let's load her into the truck."

Suddenly, Angel's vision cleared. "You'll never take me alive!" she yelled, before grabbing the commando's ankles and yanking as hard as she could. He toppled over backwards. She heard a footstep behind her, and immediately lashed out with her feet. She felt her feet collide with something soft, and heard a groan. She lashed out again. She heard another groan, and then a thump. She jumped up, just as the first commando did the same. He lashed out with his fist, slamming it into Angel's stomach. She felt all of the air leave her lungs. He lashed out again, but she ducked. Then she sent her elbow into his jaw, snapping his head back. She side kicked him twice in the stomach, and then tried it a third time. The commando dodged to the side, grabbed her foot, and kicked her as hard as he could in the side of the knee. _Crack!_ Angel screamed as she felt her tibia dislocate. The commando was about to deliver a knock-out blow when a gunshot rang out. Angel saw a hole appear in the commando's chest. He wheezed out one last breath, and fell backwards.

"Are you okay?" came a voice. A police woman appeared in Angel's vision.

"I'm fine," replied Angel. "Could you help me up?" The policewoman reached a hand out and pulled her to her feet.

"Oh my gosh!" exclaimed the policewoman, seeing Angel's leg.

"It's fine," Angel assured the policewoman.

"But, I need to take you to a hospital."

"No! I'm fine!" Angel spread her wings.

The policewoman's eyes opened so wide that Angel thought the eyeballs would pop right out. Angel beat her wings, slowly at first, and then lifted off the ground.

"There's two dead at 1101 Patterson Drive!" she called before flying off. As she was about to fly off to New York, she saw the helicopter fly beneath her. She hovered in place, thinking. "Max would do it," she thought, before flying off after the helicopter.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Angel draped herself over the step on the side of the helicopter, out of the passengers' view, which included 10 commandos and Cat Man. He was sitting in the back of the helicopter. They'd been flying for an hour and a half, when the helicopter gradually slowed down and descended. Angel looked down and saw what looked like a heavily guarded government building. It was surrounded by two cement walls, with a guard tower at each wall.

Then the radio crackled to life. "Helicopter Alpha-Zulu-1-4-5-Hotel, you are clear to deliver cargo." Angel looked down and saw three guards and four workers run out of a door onto the helipad.

"Roger," replied the pilot. Angel slipped off of the stair, wincing as her injured leg moved. As she flew backwards, she saw three sniper rifles, each fitted with a silencer, extend out of the helicopter. There were seven silenced shots, and the seven people on the helipad fell.

"Clear to fast rope." Angel flew above the helicopter as a rope was thrown out the side. Then eleven people slid down it, landing on the roof and laying small objects on the roof, forming a circle with them. Then they all moved back. Cat Man gave a signal, and Angel saw one of the commandos type a command into a PDA. Three seconds later, a circle of fire formed on the roof. The part of the roof that was inside of the circle fell into the building. Then the people jumped into the hole, disappearing from view. Gunshots and screams followed. Then Angel remembered that Cat Man had said that he was going after Jeb.

"CRAP!" she yelled. "I have to save him! Now, how did Max tell us to relocate our knees?" She quickly remembered, and then popped it back into place. "Ahhhhh!" she yelled. Then she flew through the hole in the ceiling and into the building. The hall was empty, except for three dead guards.

She heard gunshots come from around a corner, and then the sound of a door being opened with a breaching charge. She ran around the corner and saw an open door. She pressed her body against the wall next to it and looked in. She saw the commandos formed into a circle, with Cat Man inside of it. She could also hear Jeb pleading for his life.

Angel crept into the room. She suddenly grabbed one of the commando's guns and swung it with all of her strength into one of them, knocking him into another commando. She launched a roundhouse kick into a second one. Then Cat Man sprung toward her, claws outstretched. Angel felt her finger squeeze the trigger, and Cat Man stopped in mid-air and fell to the floor, a small pool of blood already forming. Angel threw the gun, jumped toward Jeb, grabbed him, spread her wings, and started flying, all in one motion. She made a u-turn and flew through the open door, and then through the hole in the ceiling. She flew straight up, out of the helicopter Gatling gun's range.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Yes," panted Jeb. "And may I ask how are you?"

"Fine." Angel was about to tell him what had happened when she was sprayed by a warm liquid. She looked down and saw that Jeb was bleeding badly. "JEB!"

"You have to lay low for a while," he gasped. "Then you have to look for the rest of the flock. Don't let my brother succeed."

"You mean we'll lay low for a while."

"No, Angel. You have to let me go."

"NO!"

"DO IT!"

"Okay. Goodbye Jeb."

"Goodbye Angel." Then Angel opened her hand. She watched Jeb plummet to the ground and heard a thump as he made contact.

"He's right," she thought. "I have to lay low. I'll find Max and Total and the others later." She changed her path so that she was flying toward the Appalachian Mountains.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

**One Year Later**

"Max-ax-ax-ax-ax-x-x-x. Maaaaaaaaaaax-ax-ax-ax-x-x-x." My eyes slowly opened. My vision was completely blurred. I could only general shapes. "She's coming around! Max!" My vision started to clear. I could see that there were people around me, two of them to be exact. "Max!" My vision cleared completely. I could see Nudge standing beside me, yelling, "MaxMaxMaxMaxMa-!" Fang put one hand on the top of her head, one on the bottom of her jaw, and pushed the two together, cutting Nudge off.

"Thank you Fang," I croaked slowly, my muscles feeling weak and unwilling to move. "So, what happened?" Nudge started talking at light-speed, and I knew that I wouldn't be able to handle it. I put a hand up, and she stopped. "I'd rather hear it from the acting leader." I knew who it was. "If everyone else would leave the room, that would be nice, because I'm not in the mood for side-comments at the moment." Nudge left, leaving only Fang and me in the room.

There were a few moments of silence; Fang broke it, sounding slightly uncomfortable, "How do you feel?"

"Well, I certainly don't feel like I was given a friggin' golden ticket to Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, but I feel alright. Anyway, what happened in the last-" I peered at a newspaper that was laying beside my hospital - oh crap – bed, my eyes widening when I saw the date, "year!" Fang took about ten minutes to relay what had happened. Apparently, I'd tried to fly Fang and me away from the falling helicopter. I realized that we wouldn't make it, and used all of my remaining strength to hurl Fang fifteen feet up to Nudge. Ah, I'm such a hero. Then the helicopter tail swung around and swatted me into a tree, really, really hard. Nudge and him, after he'd recovered slightly from his gunshot wound, inspected my injuries, which were severe, and were forced to bring me to a – du du duuuu – hospital. There, they were contacted by secret service agents, who said that the president had no interest in killing them, and offered his protection, not the protection of the FBI. Fang and Nudge were forced to agree, and then they sat, waiting, for almost a year. They were offered lodging at a safe house, but they said they'd stay in the hospital.

"So," I said, "did you go to a baseball game? Meet a girl?"

"No," replied Fang, moving closer to the bed, "there's only room in my heart for one." He bent over my bed, and kissed me. Omigod. I felt lightheaded. In my mind, only Fang and I existed. After about a minute, we stopped. Both of us were breathing very slowly. "Well," I gasped, "we better get a move on, I'm sure that Nudge is getting impatient.

"So," I said, "anything eventful happen while I was out?"

"Not much," replied Fang. "Just the presidential election, about a week back."

Alarm bells started going off in my head as memories of Herman Batchelder telling me his plan came back to me. "What were the circumstances?"

"What do you mean?"

"How did he get voted president? Did the other candidates drop out? Die mysteriously?"

"The circumstances were kind of weird. After the nomination, the other major front runner died under suspicious circumstances. More suspicious was this; the candidate that took the forerunner's place dropped out a week later."

"Oh god!" I said. "We have to get out of here!"

"Why?"

"Herman Batchelder, the bad guy leader, told me that he was going to use Angel and that weird kid to make the flock kill presidential candidates, presumably until their candidate was the only one left. It seems that they've been able to do that without us. And now, the new president probably is their candidate, and he's probably sending a team to kill us right now!" Fang immediately slid an arm under my armpit and dragged me up.

"Can you walk?" he asked.

"Normally I would say no, but I think the adrenaline will help." I started stumbling toward the door, but I got better at it with each step. Fang threw open the door and yelled at Nudge to run. Then something exploded down the hall, demolishing walls and sending a plume of fire straight toward us.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

The shockwave flung Fang and I into the air like rag dolls. I slammed into the ground and slid five feet into a cracked wall. Immediately I jumped up, feeling the adrenaline start to rush through my veins. I looked around and saw Nudge jump out of her chair. I pointed down another hallway and yelled, "Nudge! Run!" She obeyed, and Fang and I followed. Suddenly a figure, seven feet tall, appeared in front of Nudge, grabbed her by the neck, and threw her through a wall.

"Both sides!" I yelled. Fang and I moved to opposite sides of the hall. At the same time Fang jumped into the air, aiming a kick at the figure's face, I dove toward his ankles. The man lifted his leg, slid his other one sideways, and leaned away from Fang. As Fang flew past, the figure swung its heavily muscled arm into Fang's back, slamming him into the floor so hard that it moved down an inch. As I hit the ground and slid past it, the fingers on its other arm latched around my ankle. Then, with a powerful swinging motion, it threw me into the ceiling. Closing my eyes, I felt my face slam first into the sheetrock, snapping my nose and engulfing my head in pain. Then I felt the sheetrock break, and then tiles break. I was free of my body painfully breaking things until, less than a second later, I crashed into the next ceiling, but not with enough force to break through it. The ceiling held me for a second, and then I fell through the hole in the floor and landed on the floor below.

An explosion of pain shattered the world around me, and replaced it with more pain. I could faintly feel warm liquid cover my face. My vision slowly started to clear, and I could see the figure standing over me. _What the ?_

"GAZZY!?" I yelled, sending me into another whirlwind of pain. It was his face, there was no mistaking it, but it was covered in brown fur, and his blue eyes had been replace with bright, red dots. _Oh no! Not to him! Anyone but him!_ He smiled, revealing shiny white fangs.

"Don't you see, Max?" asked in a low growl. "Ari was a prototype. All of those Erasers were prototypes. The only reason they created the flyboys was because they'd figured out how to make the perfect killer, the perfect Eraser, and they needed time, time to ready the new Erasers for production." I looked past Eraser Gazzy, suddenly seeing Nudge and Fang readying themselves to attack. "I wish, Max, that they would let me spare your life, but they won't let me." He raised his fist, and I knew that he could easily crush my skull right then and there. "Goodbye Max." At that moment, Fang and Nudge jumped onto him, clinging to his neck. He let out a gurgle, bringing his hands up to his neck. He pried their arms off him and hurled them over his head. He readied himself for the kill blow, and then he let out a deafening scream. His body started convulsing, and he grabbed his head in pain. A few seconds later, he fell to the floor, unconscious.

"Sorry, brother," I heard a little girl's voice say. I looked around and spotted Angel standing at the end of the hall.

"ANGEL!" I yelled. I jumped up and ran to her, giving her a big hug. I felt Nudge and Fang pile on. "We've got to get out of here." The four of us grabbed one of Gazzy's limbs, picked him up, and carried him out of the hospital.


	19. Chapter 19

We sprinted faster as we heard a gunshot behind us. "Come on, let's go!" I yelled, glancing behind us. I saw a man in a black suit round a corner and aim a gun at us. Before he could fire a shot, he collapsed to the floor. I shot a questioning look at Angel, who nodded in response. I would have to talk to her about this later. Immediately afterward, another man in a black suit appeared in front of us. Just before Angel could launch her mental attack, he fired his gun. Nudge screamed and let go of Gazzy, clutching her shoulder. I watched the man collapse and then turned to Nudge. Blood was flowing freely down her arm, dripping onto the floor.

"Angel, grab some bandages!" I ordered, and Angel ran into a room to get some. Then I looked at Fang, and then at Gazzy, paused, and then solemnly asked, "Think we can carry him?"

Fang momentarily studied Nudge's wounds, then Gazzy's size, and replied, "No."

"Then we have to leave him," I said, my voice cracking already.

"NO!" screamed Angel, having just returned. "WE CAN'T LEAVE HIM!"

"We have to honey," I said, reaching out for her hand.

"NO!" she yelled. "I WON'T LET YOU!"

"Honey-" I started to reply, until she glared at me like she hadn't ever before.

"Help me move him," her voice echoed in my head.

I realized what she was doing, "Angel, don't-"

"DO IT!" Her voice was so loud it was like she stabbed a spear through my brain. I felt myself walk to Gazzy's limp body and pick up his arm. I looked to the side and saw Fang doing the same. I was relieved to see that she wasn't making Nudge carry Gazzy. After Nudge wrapped the gauze bandages around her arm, Angel, Fang, and I heaved Gazzy toward the main entrance of the hospital.

"Angel," I said. "What happened to you? What made you this way?"

She looked at me, the same glare on her face, "Nothing made me this way. I just love my brother!"

"Where have you been for the last year?" Fang asked.

She snapped her head around to face him, "Alone! Now shut up!" I tried to reply, but found I couldn't speak. We continued to carry Gazzy until we arrived at the main entrance. "Open it!" snapped Angel. Nudge walked forward and opened the double doors. Twenty feet in front of the doors stood a row of fully-armored and armed soldiers aiming very large automatic weapons at us. About one hundred feet behind them were multiple news crews, their shutters flashing already.

"Easy prey," hissed Angel, a wicked grin spreading across her face. I couldn't believe what was happening to her. Then she concentrated her mind on disabling the soldiers. The only problem was that she accidentally lifted her control over Fang, Nudge, and I.

I jumped into the air, aiming my body at Angel's head. As the soldiers fell unconscious, Angel turned her eyes to me. "Stop!" echoed her voice. But she was too late. My body crashed into her head, driving it hard into a wall. Knowing that she was unconscious, since I could control my whole body again, I grabbed Angel and held her to my chest.

I turned around, yelling, "GO!" Fang and Nudge ran out the door, their wings sliding out of the slits in their coats. I followed, jumping into the air and flying up to a thousand feet before inspecting Angel's injuries. There wasn't any obvious damage, so I did a quick sweep. Fang was carrying Nudge, who was too weak to fly herself. Then I looked down at the forest below us.

Suddenly, a large shape burst out of the trees and flew straight toward me. Knowing that I didn't have time to react, I dropped Angel and started to bring my hands up in front of me. The shape crashed into me hard, crushing the air from my lungs. We arced through the air and aimed down toward the trees. I looked into the shape's face, and, through the fur and enlargement, I could tell it was Iggy's.

"Hello Max," he growled, grinning. Then I felt us smash through twenty feet of branches, and then into a tree trunk. We slid down twenty feet to the ground, but Iggy took the impact of the fall. Pinning me to the trunk, he listened intently to something. "No, I don't have enough time to get her to the team." He listened again. "Okay, I'll activate it." He pulled a small mechanical device out of a pouch on his waist. Then he pressed a button on it, and slid it down the side of my head. For a second nothing happened, but then, my skin started to crawl. It started at my head, but then spread down my body. I looked at my hand and saw fur sprout from it. I could feel my eyes change, and suddenly everything I saw had a red tint to it. Suddenly, I remembered seeing my eraser self in the mirror.

"NO!" I yelled, over and over again. Each time, my voice deepened, grating more and more. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"


End file.
